Prior knowledge and intervention condition predict repeated cognitive load and interest measures: prior knowledge lowers effort and difficulty and raises interest and understanding, and prompting groups perceive tasks as more difficult¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r2 · q3
Currency · newest study 2026 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i? Intervention groups without prompting perceive the tasks as less difficult than prompting groups, and prior knowledge influences perceived difficulty regardless of group. → Katrin Schuessler 2026 q3 i? Prior knowledge lowers reported invested mental effort, while the intervention group has no decisive effect on effort. → Katrin Schuessler 2026 (2)

Evidence¶

Katrin Schuessler 2026¶

Katrin Schuessler, Jenna Koenen, Elke Sumfleth, Marvin Rost. (2026). Variations in Repeated Measures of Cognitive Load and Interest During Complex Learning Tasks. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10105-4

q3 · i? · causal · r?

Bayesian multilevel ordinal regression results for perceived task difficulty (best-fitting model G1, global non-linear trend) in the N = 360 sample; prior knowledge and intervention group enter that model as fixed effects (main effects), not as moderators; no standardized effect size is printed for them.

"Overall, regardless of the intervention group, prior knowledge has an influence on the perceived difficulty of the task. The intervention groups with prompting differ from the groups without prompting in terms of perceived difficulty, that is, intervention groups without prompting perceive the tasks as less difficult."

Katrin Schuessler 2026 (2)¶

Katrin Schuessler, Jenna Koenen, Elke Sumfleth, Marvin Rost. (2026). Variations in Repeated Measures of Cognitive Load and Interest During Complex Learning Tasks. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10105-4

q3 · i? · associational · r2

Bayesian multilevel ordinal regression for invested mental effort (best-fitting model M5) in the N = 360 sample; the article adds that the interventional group has no decisive effect on effort. No standardized effect size is printed.

"Less influential but significant is the effect of prior knowledge, which lowers the reported invested mental effort."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Interest — outcome: instruction changes it
• Motivation — outcome: instruction changes it
• Prior Knowledge — moderator: an instructional effect differs with it

Related Claims¶

• Repeated measures of invested mental effort, perceived task difficulty, interest, and self-assessed understanding differ significantly across measurement points within complex learning tasks and are not adequately represented by their mean — related
• Cognitive load ratings rise and interest and self-assessed understanding fall in sections introducing new content knowledge compared with introductory sections of worked examples — related
• Self-reported mental effort increased less across tasks in the ChatGPT condition while perceived difficulty rose equally in both groups — related
• Solving a creative problem-solving task with ChatGPT is perceived as easier and requires less mental effort, but is not more interesting — related
• Perceived task difficulty correlates negatively with self-assessed understanding and with interest at essentially all measurement points, while interest and self-assessed understanding correlate positively throughout — related
• Model-based posterior-prediction correlations between the four variables show distinct dynamic patterns across the 21 time points and four intervention groups — related
• Students perceive collaborative physics tasks as less difficult after completing them — related
• Drawing support increased rather than decreased perceived difficulty, indicating cognitive overload — related
• Learners invest more mental effort in media they perceive as difficult, so multimedia should raise perceived demand characteristics — related
• High experienced effort-by-complexity is not necessarily indicative of better learning outcomes — related
• Mental effort is more suitably modeled as a non-linear than linear predictor of learning outcomes in most re-analyzed studies — related
• Motivational interventions can lower perceived cognitive load and improve retention and transfer, indicating load perception is partly independent of task difficulty — related
• Teaching students reported higher stress and mental effort during the intervention than comparison groups — related
• Domain-specific prior knowledge, mental effort and related ratings serve as moderator or dependent measures in the signaling study — related